Raccoons can carry dangerous diseases, and their feces can create dangerous bio-hazards around your property. This is why it is always best to hire a professional Wildlife Specialist. Contact Raccoon Removal Texas now!
To help prevent a raccoon infestation:
- Inspect your home regularly.
- Remove food sources, including bird seed and compost.
- Place twigs and other materials in the openings to block possible entry points.
Raccoons often find their way into attics due to instinctive behavior. They seek shelter and warmth, especially during winter months. They can cause a lot of damage to attics, including tearing off air ducts and ripping up insulation. This debris can also create an odor that spreads throughout the home.
Humane trapping is the best and most effective way to remove a raccoon from an attic. A professional best does it because the process involves climbing ladders and scaling roofs, which can be dangerous. In addition, a raccoon can carry fleas and ticks that can cause health problems. It can also carry a variety of diseases, including rabies and leptospirosis.
A raccoon can destroy your attic and leave behind a mess of feces, urine, fur, and other waste material. It can also contaminate your attic insulation with histoplasmosis, a potentially fatal disease that affects the respiratory system. Other dangers of a raccoon in your attic include the risk of fire caused by chewed wires and damage to your air ducts.
Repellents can be used to scare raccoons away, but they are not always effective. They will eventually get used to bright lights and noises. Using mothballs or other repellents may also be harmful to your family, especially children and pets. Instead, you can try putting out a loud radio or a bowl of vinegar in your attic to keep them away.
After a raccoon has been removed from your attic, it is important to close off possible entry points to prevent them from returning. A full exterior inspection can help identify possible entrances and seal them with caulking or metal flashing. You can also place a one-way door on the entrance to make it harder for momma raccoon to return.
A one-way door is a special device that lets a raccoon out but can’t turn around and come back in. It allows the mother raccoon to relocate her babies to an alternate den site while preventing her from turning around and entering again. This is a safer option than trapping the mother raccoon and relocating her herself, but it still requires some work. It is also important to follow your state’s laws regarding the handling of live animals.
Crawl Space
Raccoons often make their home in attics and chimneys but they’re also resourceful animals that aren’t afraid to explore other areas of a house like crawl spaces. When they do, this can cause structural damage and a build up of waste. You may also hear noises such as scurrying or squeaking, especially at night. If you hear these noises, it’s important to have the area inspected right away.
In addition to the sound of raccoons running around in your crawl space, you might see evidence such as poop or nesting materials. A professional wildlife removal company can help you determine how the raccoons entered the area and recommend solutions to keep them out.
Depending on the type of wildlife, they may gnaw through wooden beams or insulation, which can cause structural damage to the building and lead to health risks for inhabitants. In addition, the odors produced by animal decomposition and waste can be difficult to eradicate.
If raccoons become established in the crawl space, they may use it as a den to give birth and raise their offspring. This can cause a number of problems, including blockages in pipes, ductwork, and ventilation systems. It can also be a fire hazard.
The best way to prevent raccoons from living in the crawl space is to create barriers that keep them out. This includes putting up wires and mesh to block entrance and keeping all garbage and debris in sealed containers that can’t be ripped open by raccoons.
Raccoons can get into the crawl space through vents, basement door seals, trim, or even from the ground. They’ll usually find an opening big enough to squeeze through and can create a den under the eaves. This area is dark and humid, making it a perfect place for pests to live, breed, and feed.
A raccoon in the crawl space is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with immediately. The longer wildlife remains unchecked, the more severe the damage and risk to inhabitants’ health. Timely wildlife removal mitigates damage and minimizes odors, ensuring a safe and habitable environment for inhabitants.
Yard
Raccoons are intelligent and curious creatures that can cause significant damage to homes, trash receptacles, gardens, outdoor lighting fixtures and bird feeders. They can also create costly messes inside your home, especially in attics and crawl spaces. Raccoons can be aggressive and will defend their young and food sources and may even attack humans in defense.
Raccoon entry points are often very hard to spot. They can hide behind tree limbs and debris or in the smallest of openings, such as vents and chimney caps. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help deter raccoons from entering your property and causing damages.
First, make sure your property is free of any attractants that will draw them in. Store your garbage bins in a garage or shed until the morning the trash is picked up, and keep pet food and birdseed indoors to prevent them from gaining access to a free buffet of food.
Install motion-activated lawn sprinklers that will spray a puddle of water when triggered by movement near your property. This can be annoying to raccoons and will encourage them to leave your yard in search of food and shelter elsewhere.
Another way to irritate raccoons into leaving your yard is by setting up an electrical fence around your garden or fruit trees. When raccoons touch the wires, they will receive an unpleasant shock, which will deter them from trying to reach their food.
A professional wildlife removal company can use exclusion methods to remove raccoons from your home and property. They can also repair any damage caused by raccoons and deter future entry. Pricing varies depending on the location of the problem and the extent of the damage. Contact a local wildlife control company to receive a quote.
Many homeowners can deter raccoons from their homes with simple steps such as locking up their trash receptacles and removing food sources. However, if the problem is more serious or a female raccoon and her babies are present, trapping and relocation is usually required to be humane and safe. This can be expensive and requires experience with handling wildlife, and is often subject to local laws and regulations.
Roof
Raccoons like to climb on roofs, especially in spring and summer when they give birth. It is also a good place to hide from predators. If you hear noises or see poop in your attic or on your roof, you have a problem.
Raccoon claws can rip through roofing materials in their quest for shelter. Check the area for damage on a regular basis and repair it immediately. If you have a shingled roof, you can minimize the risk of raccoons entering your home by putting in a barrier made of wood or metal that cannot be torn. These barriers can be affixed to the top of the roof where it meets the attic or the corners of your house.
Another way to prevent raccoons from getting into your attic is by removing their dens from chimneys or attics. However, this can be very dangerous and difficult to do on your own. Unless you are certain that the den is empty, it’s best to leave the mother and her cubs alone until they move on their own, which happens when they are about 10 weeks old.
If you find a den in a chimney or attic, be sure to never use smoke or fire to drive the animals out. You could suffocate or burn them, and they will die in the fire or in their enclosure. Instead, a pest control company can safely remove the animals and seal the den, which will keep other animals from using it in the future.
Some people try to repel raccoons with poison or euthanasia. However, these methods rarely work and are a waste of time and money. The best method of preventing raccoons from entering a house is to identify all points of entry and block them. A professional pest control company can help with this by conducting a full home inspection and providing a detailed report of all current and potential entry points. This method of exclusion can provide long-term and immediate raccoon control. For the best results, you should hire a reputable, licensed pest control company.